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The fifth year studio application process is composed of four elements:
1. Meeting the Requirements
The requirements for entering fifth year design are:
- Submission of the Studio Preference Form and Statement of Purpose on time as specified above
- Meeting all Fifth Year Prerequisites found in the Advising Policy.
2. Statement of Purpose
Must be received by Friday June 20, 2008 at 5:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Must be submitted in hard copy form (no electronic, e-mail attachments or fax submissions will be
accepted)
May not exceed 5 (five) 8.5” x 11” pages.
Please give your Statement of Purpose careful consideration and provide:
- A little information about your experience of the last 3 years (prior studios taken, work, travel, other relevant experiences, etc)
- Samples of your design work from prior studios
- Your fifth year goals and objectives
- List any minors or joint degree programs you will be attempting
- Current photo of yourself
- Your immediate professional goals upon graduation
- Other graphics or support materials you deem relevant
While you may discuss thesis interests, please do not specify the particular faculty or particular studio preference in the Statement.
The Statement should include text and images. It may be hand made, or digitally constructed, but a hard copy must be submitted.
This Statement is very important to the faculty when they make their final selection of studio assignments. It is very important that the Statement clearly demonstrates your personal educational goals and objectives for this year and a taste of who you are as an architecture student and the work you have done. The Statement should include text and images. It may be hand made, or digitally constructed, but a hard copy must be submitted.
If you are studying abroad you may wish to join with other students and share the cost of FEDEXing a group of statements together to ensure timely delivery.
Mail or Deliver Statements of Purpose to:
Arlene Dodds
Architecture Department (05-212A)
One Grand Avenue
Cal Poly
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407-0282
Tel: 805-756-1316
3. Faculty Studio Prospecti
The prospecti are descriptions of each faculty member’s fifth year studio offering. Use them to make informed decisions about your 5th year preferences following an honest self-assessment of your own professional goals and the content of the studios described in the prospecti. Read all of the material and study it carefully. If you are on campus visit the studios, talk with the current fifth year students, look over their work. Please do not hesitate to contact 5th year faculty and discuss any questions you may have about their offerings, their objectives or any 5th year design projects that you may have in mind.
4. Studio Preference Form
Must be received no later Friday, 1 August 2008, 5:00pm PST
The 5th year Thesis Studio Preference Form is linked to the 5th Year web page. Once you have reviewed the studio prospecti and determined a studio ranking that reflects their relative fit with your thesis goals, completed the Studio Preference Form and submit it electronically.
Fifth Year Architectural Design Program
The fifth year program consists of Arch 481 Senior Architectural Design Project (5 units) that is taken Fall, Winter and Spring quarters and Arch 492 Senior Design Thesis (3 units) that is taken Fall quarter.
The Architecture Department recognizes the difficulty of attempting to predict the future of a rapidly changing profession in a rapidly changing society. The Department does not, therefore, promote any single idea about the discipline, any idiosyncratic design method or a single design "style.” Demonstration of professional competency in integration of architectural theory, principles and practice with creative, organization and technical abilities in architectural programming, systems integration, material selection and design/technical research is a common goal. The architectural design studios described in the Faculty Studio Prospecti represent not one, but several attitudes toward design and architectural practice. They challenge you to consider:
- a review of your academic experience to date and speculation about the direction of your academic and professional future;
- developing an understanding of differences in approach to architectural design, focus of subject matter and instructional methods represented by the studios offered;
- the choice and selection of a studio for one year of a rigorous and disciplined course of architectural study; and
- developing your professional sense of judgment and values in architecture.
Next year’s studios offer quality and diversity of academic and/or professional content, rigor, and relevance to the profession. The goal of each is to help you, both professionally and personally, adapt to and work successfully in the discipline of Architecture.
Thesis Project Guidelines
Specific and detailed project guidelines for studio options and thesis requirements are at the individual instructor's direction. These guidelines will be found in the Faculty Studio Prospecti and the course syllabi issued at the beginning of the Fall Quarter by each instructor.
In general the 5th year architectural thesis project should:
- Involve clearly written & graphically illustrated architectural positions based on documented architectural theories, case studies, precedents, aesthetic assumptions and/or real world scenarios
- Provide significant planning and design challenges as would be expected of a capstone course, as well as a range of design solution alternatives and opportunities
- Offer appropriate design challenges resulting from consideration of things such as landscape features, adjacent development, neighborhood context, legal constraints, regional character, and historic or cultural value
- Support consideration of patterns of human activity, user and client needs and user expectations
- Involve investigation of and response to both global climatic and local micro-climatic conditions, as well as structural and material necessity
- Offer demonstration of design skill from concept origination through design development levels as interpreted by the studio instructors
Final Fifth Year Studio Placement Procedures
Completion and submission of your 5th year Studio Preference Form and Statement of Purpose as specified as well as meeting Fifth Year Prerequisites is required for admission to fifth year and placement in a fifth year design studio. If your Studio Preference Form and Statement of Purpose are not submitted, not complete or not on time, you will be assigned the lowest priority. This means that you may not be placed in a fifth year studio unless there is space available.
The 5th year faculty will review all submissions after the due date.
Design studio placement is based on a combination of the following factors:
- student’s preference,
- the compatibility of student’s educational preparation and declared objectives with the focus, goals and objectives of the studio, as judged by the faculty; and
- a maximum enrollment of 18 students per studio.
Every effort will be made to provide students with their higher preference, but this cannot be guaranteed.
Final 5th year studio assignments will be posted on the Architecture Department notice board and web site as soon as placements are completed (anticipated to be mid-summer). Once notified of your studio assignment, you are encouraged to contact your 5th year instructor to discuss ideas for your thesis proposal and preparations that would be helpful prior to Fall Quarter.
Questions
Questions about the process, dates, or other aspects of fifth year design are welcome and should be addressed to:
Associate Professor Sandy Stannard, Fifth Year Design Coordinator
E-mail: stannard@calpoly.edu
Phone
: 805.756.2076